GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Ardwell Irion called for a significant increase in Sint Maarten’s minimum wage during Tuesday’s budget debate, arguing that wages have not kept pace with the rising cost of living faced by households.
Irion pointed to increasing fuel prices, high GEBE bills, food costs and other everyday expenses as pressures that continue to reduce the purchasing power of working families. During the debate, he questioned what it would take for government to substantially increase the minimum wage and argued that the 2027 budget does not sufficiently address the financial pressures households are experiencing.
According to Irion, annual adjustments to the minimum wage are no longer enough if the cost of basic necessities continues to rise faster than what many workers earn.
“People cannot continue to face higher electricity bills, higher fuel prices and higher living expenses while their salaries remain virtually unchanged,” Irion said. “At some point government has to pull the trigger on a meaningful increase in the minimum wage.”
Irion said a significant increase could also have a broader effect on the labour market by placing upward pressure on wages above the minimum level and encouraging employers to reassess what constitutes a reasonable salary in today’s economy.
However, he stressed that increasing wages cannot be approached in isolation.
If government expects businesses to pay substantially better salaries, Irion said government must also address the cost and difficulty of doing business in Sint Maarten. This includes reducing bureaucracy, speeding up permits and government approvals, improving the efficiency of public services and examining taxes and other costs that limit the ability of businesses, particularly smaller businesses, to absorb higher labour costs.
Irion said reforms to areas such as profit tax should therefore form part of the same economic discussion.
“The answer cannot simply be to tell the private sector to pay more while government continues making it expensive and difficult to operate a business,” Irion said. “Government has to do its part as well.”
He cautioned that a major wage increase without corresponding reforms could put pressure on smaller employers or lead some businesses to pass additional costs on to consumers. For that reason, Irion said wage policy and business reform should move together.
The objective, he said, should not be to create a debate between workers and employers, but to build an economy in which businesses can remain competitive while employees are able to earn enough to meet the realities of living in Sint Maarten.
Irion said government cannot control every global increase in fuel, food or other imported goods, but it can influence wages, taxation, bureaucracy and the domestic business environment.
“The cost of living has changed,” Irion said. “Our economic policies and our wages have to change with it.”
